The present invention relates generally to mobile computing, and more particularly to scaling images to fit a screen on a mobile device.
Small, mobile computing devices such as personal desktop assistants, including hand-held and pocket-sized computers, tablet personal computers and the like, are becoming important and popular user tools. In general, they have become small enough to be extremely convenient, while consuming less battery power, and at the same time have become capable of running more powerful applications. Although the computing circuitry of such devices continues to shrink in size, the area available for displaying data to a user shrinks as well. The usability of such data may be problematic due to the relatively small size of the display.
For example, data is often displayed in the form of a “web page” that includes text, tables, images, and other varieties of display information. The images on a web page are optimized to be displayed on a screen having a specified minimum size. When the size of the screen available is smaller than the specified minimum size, such as on a mobile device, the mobile device may be unable to show the images in a size readily viewable by a user.
The present invention is directed to a system and method for scaling images to fit a screen on a mobile device. A non-linear scale factor is utilized to scale larger images of a page of data more aggressively than smaller images on the same page. Accordingly, the relative differences in sizes of the images on the page are reduced. In one embodiment, the aspect ratios of the images are held constant when scaling, so both height and width are scaled equally. The present invention avoids scaling the images of a page according to a linear scale factor. A linear scale factor may reduce a small image to a size that is unusable for its intended purpose. The present invention scales the images according to a non-linear scale factor to increase usability of the images.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, the non-linear scale factor is adjusted for a selected zoom setting when a zoom feature is associated with the mobile device. For the smallest zoom setting, images are scaled more aggressively to fit more content on the screen. Conversely, for the largest zoom setting, the images are scaled to a lesser extent to increase the detail of the image.
Briefly stated, the present invention is directed at scaling an image provided to a mobile device to fit a screen associated with the mobile device according to a non-linear scale factor. These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after reading the following detailed description.
Illustrative Operating Environment
With reference to
Computing device 100 may have additional features or functionality. For example, computing device 100 may also include additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in
Computing device 100 may also contain communication connections 116 that allow the device to communicate with other computing devices 118, such as over a network. Communication connections 116 are one example of communication media. Communication media may typically be embodied by computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. The term computer readable media as used herein includes both storage media and communication media.
With reference to
One or more application programs 266 are loaded into memory 262 and run on the operating system 264. Examples of application programs include phone dialer programs, installation wizard programs, email programs, scheduling programs, PIM (personal information management) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs, Internet browser programs, image scaling programs, and so forth. The mobile computing device 200 also includes non-volatile storage 268 within the memory 262. The non-volatile storage 268 may be used to store persistent information which should not be lost if the mobile computing device 200 is powered down. The applications 266 may use and store information in the storage 268, such as e-mail or other messages used by an e-mail application, contact information used by a PIM, appointment information used by a scheduling program, documents used by a word processing program, device driver programs, and the like.
The mobile computing device 200 has a power supply 270, which may be implemented as one or more batteries. The power supply 270 might further include an external power source, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle, that supplements or recharges the batteries.
The mobile computing device 200 is also shown with two types of external notification mechanisms: an LED 240 and an audio interface 274. These devices may be directly coupled to the power supply 270 so that when activated, they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor 260 and other components might shut down to conserve battery power. The LED 240 may be programmed to remain on indefinitely until the user takes action to indicate the powered-on status of the device. The audio interface 274 is used to provide audible signals to and receive audible signals from the user. For example, the audio interface 274 may be coupled to a speaker for providing audible output and to a microphone for receiving audible input, such as to facilitate a telephone conversation.
The mobile computing device 200 also includes a radio interface layer 272 that performs the function of transmitting and receiving radio frequency communications. The radio interface layer 272 facilitates wireless connectivity between the mobile computing device 200 and the outside world, via a communications carrier or service provider. Transmissions to and from the radio interface layer 272 are conducted under control of the operating system 264. In other words, communications received by the radio interface layer 272 may be disseminated to application programs 266 via the operating system 264, and vice versa.
Illustrative Process for Image Scaling
The present invention provides a system and method for scaling images according to a non-linear scale factor such that usability of the images is maximized. Usability of the images refers to the ability of a user to readily view and recognize the content of an image displayed. The nonlinear scale factor is used to scale larger images within a page of data more aggressively than smaller images. The variation in image sizes may be very common in content such as web pages or other loadable data pages. For example, a small image (e.g. 10 pixels wide) and a large image (e.g. 400 pixels wide) may be present on the same page. The screen on a mobile device may be only 200 pixels wide. The present invention maximizes the usability of the images by scaling the larger image to fit within the width of the screen, while minimizing the scaling of the smaller image or avoiding scaling the small image completely. In contrast, scaling all images according to a linear scale factor of 50% would result in a large image 200 pixels wide and the small image only 5 pixels wide. On a small display, attempting to see detail in an image that has been shrunk from 10 to 5 pixels in width may significantly reduce the usability of the image. With the present invention, the size of the smaller image is substantially maintained such that usability of the image is maximized.
At block 304, the non-linear scale factor for application to the images located on the page of data is determined. In one embodiment, the non-linear scale factor for the images is dependant on the width of the screen on the mobile device. In another embodiment, the non-linear scale factor is dependent on whether a zoom feature is associated with the mobile device. An illustrative process for determining the non-linear scale factor is further described in the discussion of
At block 306, an image associated with the page of data is scaled according to the determined non-linear scale factor. In one embodiment, the images are scaled such the largest figure is scaled according to the width of the mobile device. Accordingly, a user of the mobile device may view the images without the need to scroll the page of data horizontally. In this embodiment, the width of each image fits within the width of the screen on the mobile device. In another embodiment, certain images associated with the page of data are not scaled. An image may not be scaled when scaling of the image is not required to fit the image within the screen of the mobile device. In another embodiment, an image may not be scaled if it would reduce the usability of the image beyond a predetermined level. Processing continues at block 308.
At decision block 308, a determination is made whether all of the images associated with the page of data have been scaled according to the non-linear scale factor. If not all of the images have been scaled, processing returns to block 306 to continue scaling process 300. However, if all of the images associated with the page of data have been scaled, processing moves to block 310, where processingends.
At block 404, the maximum image size associated with the page of data is determined. In one embodiment, the maximum image size is limited according to the width of the screen on the mobile device. The width and the height of the images are scaled proportionally to preserve the aspect ratio of the image and the integrity of the data contained within the images. In this embodiment, the maximum image size is related to the width of each image, wherein the maximum width is the width of the screen on the mobile device. After the maximum image size is determined, processing moves to block 406.
At block 406, the non-linear scale factor for the images is set. In one embodiment, the non-linear scale factor is set such that the largest image is scaled to a width that matches or is slightly smaller than the maximum image size. Since the maximum image size corresponds to the screen width, the non-linear scale factor is set so that the width of the largest image matches the width of the screen on the mobile device or is slightly smaller. For example, a maximum image size is 200 pixels in width, corresponding to the width of the screen on the mobile device. The non-linear scale factor is set such that each image, once scaled, has a width that is equal to or less than 200 pixels. Accordingly, larger images, that may be larger than the maximum image size after scaling, are forced to scale further to meet maximum image size limitation. For example, a 1000 pixel wide image that is scaled to 250 pixels using a given scaling function is forced to scale down further to 200 pixels. Scaling the images to fit the width of a screen on a mobile device improves usability of the image by minimizing the horizontal scrolling required to view the image. Processing continues at decision block 408.
At decision block 408, a determination is made whether a zoom feature is associated with the mobile device. A zoom feature on a mobile device is a feature that allows the user to view the data on a page at a selected zoom setting. In one example, the zoom feature is used to change the default text size from smallest through to largest on a page of data. A different non-linear scale factor is applied for each zoom setting selected. For the smallest setting on the zoom feature, the user may desire more content to fit on the screen. The images may therefore be scaled more aggressively. Conversely, for the largest setting on the zoom feature, the user may want more detail on the images. Accordingly, the images are scaled to a lesser extent to attempt to preserve the original resolution of the image. If a zoom feature is present on the mobile device, processing moves to block 410.
At block 410, the non-linear scale factor is adjusted to compensate for the zoom setting. Once the non-linear scale factor is adjusted, processing moves to block 412, where the process returns to block 306 of process 300 shown in
Alternatively, at decision block 408, if a zoom feature is not associated with the mobile device, processing moves to block 412 where processing returns to block 306 of process 300 shown in
In one embodiment, the non-linear scale factor may be adjusted whenever the zoom setting is adjusted according to another process. For example, a user may select the smallest zoom setting, to have more content fit on the screen at any time after the image has already been scaled to fit the screen on the mobile device. The non-linear scale factor is therefore adjusted to more aggressively scale any images to reduce their size and accommodate the selection of the smallest zoom setting by the user.
In a further embodiment, a separate non-linear scaling factor is applied to each image according to the attributes of the image, including not scaling the image. For example, the content of the page of data may be examined to determine the type of image displayed. If a determination is made that the usability of the image will be compromised if the non-linear scale factor is applied, another scale factor may be used.
In the example shown, images for the medium, large, and largest zoom settings (
As previously stated in the discussion of
The images are scaled to a width of 200 pixels or less to correspond to the maximum image size. For the largest zoom setting (e.g.,
The responses in
The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the method and use of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/420,475 filed on Oct. 21, 2002, which is hereby claimed under 35 U.S.C. §119(e).
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